Tag: exams

The Faculty of Music has withdrawn proposed changes to one of its FHS exams after strong criticism from students. On Thursday 31st January the Faculty announced via email that the ‘Music Analysis and Criticism’ paper – in which students have to analyse an unseen score of 19th-century chamber music and write an essay on it […]

If at first you don’t succeed, ask Daddy to pay for you to take easier exams. At least, this has been the case for several GCSE students at independent schools which are opting to take the easier IGCSEs over the more rigorous and difficult GCSEs which have been introduced during the Conservative government’s latest round […]

Barely a day went by over the Christmas vacation when there wasn’t an Oxfess agonising over collections, asking whether they matter, what will happen if we fail, how we should prepare for them. Instead of Christmas being a time for rest and recuperation from a hectic Michaelmas, the vacation becomes a time for panic to […]

UK universities have this week been warned about an imminent rise in cases of contract cheating. Concerns about student cheating have been raised over the last month by government officials, national news sources, and individuals both inside and outside the Higher Education framework. Daniel Sokol, a former Oxford University student and lecturer who is now […]

Exams are approaching, and many students will now be in the deepest depths of a library trying to absorb information via osmosis. However, many students end up generating more heat than light. Here are some tips to help you stay happy and productive during this revision season. 1) Get some sleep If you go to […]

Oxford University students last week celebrated the end of their exams in typical trashing fashion despite warnings from the university that those involved in the practice could face significant fines. Cherwell revealed at the end of April that the university had been working with the Thames Valley Police in an attempt to end the “inconsiderate and […]

The number of reported cases of academic misconduct involving students at top UK universities has noticeably increased in the last three years. Experts have been critical, claiming that universities are disregarding the issue. Figures compiled by The Guardian indicate that the number of incidents of cheating rose by 40%, from 2,640 in the 2014-15 academic […]

Summer in Oxford: punting, Pimm’s, and… Prelims. Every student’s favourite Holy Trinity. For many first-years and finalists, this may mean a term cooped up in the library. That being said, we all need some Vitamin D, and so the perfect way to soak up some of Oxford’s elusive sunshine (especially if you are one of […]

Research tells us that 80 to 95% of students procrastinate. In my view the real number is 100%. We all do it. We do it often. And we do it more than we’d like to. I still procrastinate to this day even after reading and writing a lot about it. The epidemic isn’t entirely curable […]

Oriel College have come top in this year’s Norrington Table with 76.75 per cent, whilst Queen’s sunk to the bottom of the table with only 66.6 per cent, down five places from last year. Merton was close on Oriel’s heels, coming second with a score of 76.71 per cent, seemingly recovered from their shocking 27th […]

The University of Cambridge has announced that it is instituting entrance exams for incoming undergraduates. Each test will be tailored specifically to a certain subject and will be administered either pre-interview or at-interview, depending on the course. The purpose of these tests are to provide admissions tutors with more evidence of an hopeful students’ abilities […]

Finalists have made it. They are the kings and queens of the jungle, expert players in the Oxford game. They are old hands at tutorials; they have faced the dreaded exam season and survived. Every finalist I have ever met has been disarmingly friendly and perfectly polite. Frankly, I find them terrifying. In my mind […]

Exam season is well and truly coming. The sun has begun occasionally appearing over Port Meadow, finalists have disappeared into the bowels of their rooms, and the first pictures of ecstatically trashed students have begun to appear on our Facebook feeds. Following on the tail of these picture-postcards of the Oxford summer comes a highly […]

As we get further into term and dreaded finals (or prelims) edge ever closer, finalists’ gloomy faces become easier and easier to spot around college. With this in mind, here is a super easy guide to cheering up a your finalist friend/college parent with a care package. Coffee. I would explain why this is a […]

Last year, during my much-awaited Christmas vac break, I saw a Facebook status which really hit home. A fellow fresher had posted, twinned with a “feeling frustrated” emoji, the following words- “I don’t quite understand what vacation stands for, in Oxford terms – it surely must stand for the action of vacating our rooms, rather […]

“You look very sane for a Finalist.” The sound of these words a few weeks ago did not fill me with the reassurance that their speaker probably anticipated. They sparked a chain of fear in my relatively composed Finalist’s brain. Should I look less sane? I’m evidently not working enough yet to have lost the […]

By 2018 the ‘English Baccalaureate’ – a pastiche certificate including English, Maths, History/Geography and a language – is intended to replace GCSEs as England’s standard 16-plus measure of academic attainment. Michael Gove announced the move in order to counter the “grade inflation and dumbing down” engendered by GCSEs. Gove’s exam would not only be harder, […]